Recreational flotation devices, such as a floating mattress or lounge, are among the most popular beach and pool recreational devices. They are typically inflatable and may comprise one or more bladders or buoyant members located at the outer portions of the device, while an inner portion may consist of a layer of plastic or mesh material upon which the user sits or reclines, the inner portion being attached to the buoyant member or members. Some known mattresses comprise two buoyant members, one at each end of an elongated inner portion.
A known floating mattress, representative of the prior art, is shown in FIG. 1. It comprises an inner portion having a cylindrical buoyant member at each of two ends. Each buoyant member is substantially cylindrical in shape and includes a conventional inflation valve. The floating mattress illustrated in FIG. 1 is constructed as follows. Each buoyant member is comprised of three pieces of plastic material: circular end segments 1 and 3 and a tubular portion 2 formed by welding together the long edges of a single rectangular piece of material. A facing edge of an inner member 4 is sandwiched between and welded to the long edges of the of the tubular portion. The circular end segments 1 and 3 are then heat welded to each end of the tube 2.
The mattress shown in FIG. 1 requires six welding steps and requires the wastage of material that necessarily accompanies the cutting out of circular end segments.
Accordingly, there is a need for alternative articles and methods of manufacturing to reduce the amount of created waste material and/or to reduce the manufacturing steps required to make a recreational flotation device.